Lord Sidley's Last Season

by Sherry Lynn Ferguson

  She smiled. “Miss Poole did not accompany you today? I expected she might.”

  “Clara also shops this afternoon, with my aunt, for a wedding gift for Dicky. Apparently such selections require considerable application. Perhaps you will be as attentive to your own brother’s nuptials.”

  In all truth Marian had given little thought to Michael’s wedding, which he planned for November. November seemed so very far in the future.

  “I shall most probably offer to paint his bride, my lord.”

  “I had forgotten that you will always be capable of offering the most rewarding gift possible.”

  “You tease me, Lord Sidley. It is, for me, also the least expensive.”

  “I’m convinced that will not long be the case. I assume you will have submissions prepared for next summer’s Royal Academy exhibition?”

  “I have some paintings and drawings that might be acceptable, and I will apply myself to more. But as you know, the exhibition is juried. I must pass muster.”

  “‘Tis competitive, certainly, but you will have no difficulty. I believe the standard is `distinguished merit.”’

  “I appreciate your confidence, my lord”

  “I am no less confident than you are, Miss Ware, to have embarked on this course at all. I believe you deserve to succeed. To that end, I wish you would permit me to open some doors for you”

  Marian’s brush hand wavered. “How do you mean?” she asked.

  “I should like to introduce you to Mr. Angerstein, who owns a large number of masterpieces. He shows his collection at his home in Pall Mall. And there are others of my acquaintance who further the arts-John Varley, who still teaches, and whose watercolors I am certain you know, and Dr. Monro, who supported Turner. Perhaps old Sir George Beaumont might even be prevailed upon-”

  “Why should you do this, Lord Sidley?”

  “Why should I not? As I’ve mentioned, ‘tis within my power. And these gentlemen might interest you, and aid you”

  “‘Tis not necessary for you to make-to compensate-for anything. You have already done more than enough with this commission. I would not ask you-”

  “You are due the opportunities because of your abil ity. I ask nothing of you in return. Except, perhaps, that you think well of me”

  “I needn’t take such advantage. I do think well of you.”

  “How well?”

  She stopped painting and met his gaze. The intensity of his made her breath catch. He knows, she thought. He understood the watercolor. Even as she thought it, she wished she might capture the openness of his gaze on the canvas. But first she had to answer it.

  “My lord-”

  “Do not `my lord’ me, Marian.”

  Her heart faltered, even as footsteps crossed the hall. She thought Edith and Katie had returned.

  But at the doorway the butler announced, “Lieutenant Reeves to see you, miss”

  William was tanned and healthy. He was smiling broadly. Marian could not help but view him with relief; for two years she had feared for his safety. And the waiting-the waiting had seemed endless. But as she carefully laid her brush aside and crossed quickly to the doorway, she sensed Sidley’s gaze upon her. And, despite the smile, William looked as ill at ease as she felt.

  In the second’s hesitation before she could reach to kiss his cheek, William grasped her hand and smartly saluted it.

  “Hello, old girl,” he said. “You look just just as ever.”

  “William!” she breathed, “I did not expect you. Not here in town.”

  “No, of course not. Didn’t mean to surprise you, but Michael thought I should come on to you first thing.”

  “Michael! But where is he?”

  “In Brinford. Had a letter from him, I mean.”

  Marian stared at him. Something was wrong. But William’s gaze had slid to Sidley.

  “My-Lord Sidley,” she said, turning to him. “May I present Lieutenant William Reeves?”

  Sidley had risen to his feet. He bowed, as did William.

  “How d’you do, Lieutenant?” Sidley was smiling. “I have heard much of you”

  “You have? I can’t imagine-”

  “Your fiancee has been most complimentary.”

  To Marian’s surprise, William blushed a bright red.

  “Too … too kind. Thank you, my lord.” He cleared his throat. “Marian paints you?”

  Sidley gestured to the canvas. When William crossed the room, Sidley joined him in appraising the work.

  “Good of you to let Marian practice on you, my lord.”

  “The honor is mine.” He paused. “Are you not impressed with the result, Lieutenant?”

  “It does look very much like you, my lord. That is always most important. You must have preferred, though, to be painted in your regimentals? I wonder Marian did not think of it.”

  “Miss Ware did think of it, Lieutenant. But it was not my preference”

  “Well … He looked uncomfortable and straightened his shoulders. “It should have been mine.”

  Sidley’s smile did not reach his eyes. “Quite.” He was watching William’s face. “I do not wonder at it.”

  Marian took some umbrage at his tone, which she deemed critical. She knew that Sidley observed herworse, that he observed her with William. He could not have failed to note the constraint between them.

  “I must congratulate you, Lieutenant, on securing Miss Ware’s affections.”

  “Well, as to that, she is … she is something…

  “Something, yes” Sidley’s gaze fell lazily upon her, in such a manner that Marian grew warm. “I know you must have much to impart to each other,” he said, moving toward the door, and Marian, conscious of a curious reluctance to let him leave, followed him. She should not have desired Lord Sidley’s help with her fiance. The thought was ludicrous.

  Sidley paused at the entry to the hall and turned to her. “We never quite finish, do we?” he asked softly. Taking the same bare hand William had just saluted, he raised it to his lips and placed a kiss upon the selfsame spot. But there was nothing at all similar in its effect. His gaze assessed her as he donned his hat and gathered his gloves and cane. “You look lovely, Miss Ware just as ever,” he said, pointedly amending William’s words. Then he moved into the hall and left her.

  “Well!” William said as she returned to him.

  The back of her hand felt precious.

  “You are keeping high company these days, Marian. Sidley! And painting him! What is he paying you?”

  “I do not know.” She gestured airily and stared very hard for a second out the window into the garden. “He promises something.”

  “Should have settled with him first. These nobs sometimes take what they can-”

  “Lord Sidley wouldn’t.”

  William’s eyebrows rose. “He favors one leg,” he remarked. “Just the slightest bit. He was injured at Toulouse, wasn’t he?”

  “Orthez. I believe it was Orthez. It is all much more than you wish to know, William. Let us not talk of Lord Sidley just now. Here you are returned and looking very well! But how could you have had a letter from Michael? Did your ship not just arrive?”

  Again he blushed. “He knew we were due about now and sent the note to await me. You see, I’d-I’d written him from Gibraltar.”

  “You wrote me as well, but I’m still surprised to see you here in town. I thought you meant to go on to Brinford and that I would join you there”

  “That was the plan. But, well, Michael thought I should-said it would be best if I came directly to you here. Naturally I was most eager to see you” But his gaze was roaming the room, as though he were far from eager to see her. In fact, he appeared to be looking everywhere but at her. The smart uniform served only to emphasize his unease. Marian wondered if Sidley had seen that in him. Again she sensed something was wrong.

  “What is it, William?” she asked abruptly. “Has something happened to Michael?”

  “Michael? Oh, no, not at a
ll.” At last his gaze returned to her. “This is entirely-well, Marian, we have known each other a very long time. I can certainly tell you that … that I have married!”

  “Married?”

  A grin was breaking across his face. The grin did not seem to suit what he had said.

  “You mean, you have married someone else?”

  “Yes. In Gibraltar. Before we sailed. My Rose isOh, Marian! You must understand! Had I not wed her then, ‘twould have been another six months, and that would have been much too long to wait! We-we love each other, Marian. I could not have asked her to wait half so long!”

  She stared at him. “You asked me to wait these two years, William.”

  “Well, yes, but that was different, don’t you see? Because we always had our understanding and have always been more like friends than … than anything else. When I met Rose, I knew right off we were just-that you and I had never been-Oh, everything is so different with Rose! She’s the daughter of a merchant, a supplier at Gibraltar, and so-so perfectly beautiful! You’ll see how wonderful she is when you meet her. If I’d left her, I knew I could not keep her. Two other fellows were hard on my heels, but she chose me” He straightened his shoulders. “We shall take a house at Portsmouth, and then she thinks I ought to stay with the Navy, or at least in shipping. So we shan’t be up north to Brinford at all. Mama and Father shall visit us at Portsmouth. I knew you would understand, Marian, if I could just speak with you.”

  She still stared at him. “But this is not-not what you planned,” she said. “All these years, you’ve spoken so fondly of Brinford, as though you hoped never to leave it!”

  “I know!” William had started to pace. “I know that, Marian. But everything with Rose is-well, it simply happened. I did not plan it. And now all I seem to do is plan-to please her! She is the most perfect darling! I love her so-I only want what she wants.”

  And yet you would have had me retire to the country and abandon my painting, Marian thought, with a swift recognition that neither of them had ever loved each other as they ought. Though she knew herself better out of the arrangement, though she felt a lightening of her heart, knowing that William’s announcement had spared her one of her own, she was still left to deal with a very public abandonment. And the repercussions for her were likely to be much more enduring than they ever would have been for William.

  She permitted herself a spurt of resentment. She had thought better of William. But this was, after all, what she had wanted.

  “I do not fault you, William, for your feeling. I know you did not seek it, nor yield without struggle. There is no reason, no … explanation behind much attraction. You love her, and there is naught that might now be changed about your marriage. But you must see that you’ve placed me in a most difficult position. Many here were aware of my engagement. ‘Twas widely known.”

  William again turned red. “I know I should have come ahead and spoken to you first, that you should have been seen as releasing me first from any-any obligation. That you should have been let to cry off. But Rose pleaded so..

  “She knew of our engagement?”

  “Oh, yes. But she also knew that we were rather more friends than-than closer; I had to tell her that, as you know it to be true, don’t you, Marian? And she knows of your art, and she said you should be able to find work of some sort, then, or stay here with your cousins, who must be rather plump in the pockets, given this place. Or you might even return to Michael. So it is not really so bad, you see”

  But most ungallant, Marian thought silently. And she decided she did not much care for the ambitious young Mrs. Reeves, much as she wished William well.

  She attempted a smile. “There is little to be done now, William, except for me to wish you happy. I’d have preferred you had written me when you wrote Michael. But at least he directed you to me here in town. For I do need one favor from you” She sighed deeply. “‘Twould be much better for me if you concealed the marriage from our acquaintance for at least a few days. I know it cannot be hidden long-”

  “I fear it cannot be hidden at all, Marian, for of course I had to send word to my parents on my arrival. Everyone in Brinford shall probably know today-or tomorrow at the latest”

  “I see” She worried her lower lip. “But perhaps the news might be delayed here in town. If we do not tell my cousins just yet . . ” She scarcely knew why she troubled to delay, other than to postpone dealing with her future until she could quite accommodate the present. And somewhere in her confusion she wondered about Lord Sidley. She did not want him to know; William’s defection deprived her of standing in society-Sidley’s society. What must he make of her now-not only the Formsbys’ poor relation but tossed over by her fiance?

  “Some officers from the Perseus are like to come on to town soon, Marian. There’s to be an assembly of the fleet at Spithead, to impress the Prince Regent’s foreign visitors. I fear I cannot keep this business quiet.”

  She nodded and rather numbly and pointlessly began toying with one of her brushes. Edith and Katie were due back at any moment.

  “I think, William, that you had best leave now. You’ll want to be getting back to your-to Rose as soon as possible. And I have much to consider-how to tell Edith, for one. It might be awkward, should you stay”

  “I’ll be off, then, Marian. I shall write you all about everything. I must tell you all about my Rose! But first you must-I’d ask that you forgive me. You know I would never have hurt you. And I hope we might remain friends. You and Michael and I have always been family. I should like Rose to know you.”

  “Of course,” she said, though she thought the relationship destined to be strained. “Do hurry now, William.”

  He moved with alacrity then to try to take her hand once more. But she hid it, protected, behind her back as she held the brush and let him graze her cheek with a swift kiss instead. In his actions he seemed more like a jubilant, ill-trained pet than the serious young sailor to whom she had been faithful for so long.

  She did not walk him to the door. Instead she stood staring at her portrait of Lord Sidley. She silently asked his bright gaze for any guidance he might render. But those blue eyes looked strangely amused and superior. They lacked the understanding she knew they had often held for her. The flaw was one she had not caught until that moment, and she set about at once to earn Sidley’s fancied sympathy by correcting his expression.

  He could not bear the fellow. Lieutenant Reeves had to be got rid of. The question was how to do so respectably.

  “You are looking very sour,” Vaughn remarked. “Should I suspect the beer at the Guildhall last night?”

  “I cannot recall any beer last night, or much else of the meal, for that matter. ‘Twas an outlandish crush. This season will be remarked years hence for its excesses. But Prinny will have it..

  “What has you looking so grim, then?”

  “I have just met Lieutenant Reeves.” Sidley glanced quickly at Vaughn, then looked away. “He does not deserve her.”

  “That was understood, of course. I thought you meant to surprise me”

  ”’ Twould lighten my spirits to be rid of him.”

  “Shall I toss him into the Thames for you?”

  “I would not have Miss Ware upset.”

  “I was not serious.”

  “I was” Sidley’s gaze followed the couples dancing a reel. Yet for all the attention he paid them, they might have been in another country. If he had not promised to escort his aunt and Clara Poole to this party hosted by their friends, the Holnotts, Sidley would have much preferred to stay home and plan. But he had been obliged to attend. At least Clara was smiling again. He could be grateful for that.

  “All these diversions-dining and drinking and skipping about .. ” Sidley muttered.

  “It is called dancing. And you used to enjoy it well enough”

  “Well enough? ‘Tis many weeks since I’ve enjoyed anything about this infernal season.”

  “At least it shall be your
last.”

  Sidley fixed Vaughn with a very determined eye. “You dare to be clever, my friend?”

  “Not at all. I know your purpose. You shall be riveted to someone by fall whether you love or not. Either way, next season is unlikely to tempt you. By the by, is that old Colonel Bassett with your aunt? He does not appear to know the steps”

  “She will tutor him,” Sidley commented idly. His thoughts were once again on Lieutenant Reeves. One might, he supposed, appeal to the fellow’s pocketbookor to his ambition. Naval promotions were difficult to come by; aspiring junior officers were said to pray for war or plagues to open the ranks. But surely in these peaceful days, there must be many cutting loose? He could have Reeves made an admiral and sent half the world away.

  “At least,” Vaughn said, “we have rid ourselves of the responsibility of Benny”

  Sidley nodded. His Grace the Duke of Derwin was delighted with his youngest son’s purchase of a commission.

  “Kenny’s unlikely to come to any harm at this point,” Sidley said. “The House Guards shall stay safely in town, where he might parade about at any hour.” He watched Lady Katherine enter the ballroom on Lord Carroll’s arm.

  “You should consider that another accomplishment,” Vaughn said softly, indicating Katie with a lift of his chin.

  “Perhaps. All tends to a close of sorts” As Sidley observed Lady Katherine, he wondered if Lieutenant Reeves had stayed the rest of the evening at the Formsbys’. He steeled himself to see the lieutenant enter the room next, with Marian Ware as his partner. But the couple did not attend. He told himself he was relieved-until he pictured them happily occupied at home. Excusing himself abruptly from Vaughn’s company, he sought out Lady Katherine.

  She appeared flustered at his approach. No doubt she viewed him now as an encumbrance, one that could only serve to interfere with her pursuit of Lord Carroll. Except, of course, that his competing attentions might prove invaluable in bringing Carroll to the point.

  Sidley bowed to her brother, Formsby, then took Lady Katherine’s hand for the lightest of feather kisses.